Five Charged in Conspiracy to Illegally
Remit More Than $22 Million to Brazil

JUL 02 -- Kevin L. Lane Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforecment Administration in New England and Nora R. Dannehy, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that a federal grand jury sitting in Bridgeport returned a four-count Indictment charging five individuals for their alleged participation in a conspiracy to illegally remit more than $22,000,000 to Brazil from Danbury and Bridgeport storefronts.

The Indictment charges MARCIO MANSUR, 52, of Waterbury; RENATA AMARAL, 37, of New Milford; MONICA TEIXEIRA, 40, of New Milford; NILANDER DeOLIVIERA, 29, of Shelton, and ANDREA DeOLIVIERA, 38, of Shelton, each with one count of conspiracy to operate an illegal money remitting business. As alleged in the Indictment, MANSUR operated Bem Brasil of Danbury, AMARAL and TEIXEIRA operated RM Insurance Services LLC of Danbury, and NILANDER DeOLIVIERA and ANDREA DeOLIVIERA were affiliated with BrazUSA Enterprises LLC. The Indictment alleges that, from December 2005 to March 2008, the defendants worked together to manage illegal and unlicensed money transmitting businesses in Connecticut.

A money transmitting business is any person or business that receives money from a customer and then, for a fee paid by the customer, transmits that money to a recipient in a place that the customer designates, usually a foreign country.

The Indictment alleges that, in exchange for remitting more than $22,000,000 from Connecticut to Brazil and for guaranteeing the anonymity of both their customer and their customer’s intended beneficiary, the co-conspirators took a percentage of the remitted funds for their own financial gain.

The Indictment also charges MANSUR with two counts, and AMARAL, TEIXEIRA, NILANDER DeOLIVIERA and ANDREA DeOLIVIERA each with one count of aiding and abetting the operation of an illegal money transmitting business.

Finally, the Indictment charges AMARAL, TEIXEIRA, NILANDER DeOLIVIERA and ANDREA DeOLIVIERA each with one count of conspiracy to launder money purported to be drug proceeds. The charge relates to an undercover investigation in which the defendants allegedly transferred a total of more than $350,000 purported to be the proceeds of marijuana sales from a bank in Connecticut to a bank in Texas.

The conspiracy to operate an illegal money remitting business and aiding and abetting charges each carry a maximum term of imprisonment of five years. The conspiracy to launder money charge carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

Acting United States Attorney Dannehy stressed that an indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are entitled to a fair trial at which it is the Government’s burden to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.